And therefore many words which
seem to express some action, signify nothing of the action or modus
operandi at all, but barely the effect, with some circumstances of the
subject wrought on, or cause operating: v.g. creation, annihilation,
contain in them no idea of the action or manner whereby they are
produced, but barely of the cause, and the thing done. And when a
countryman says the cold freezes water, though the word freezing seems
to import some action, yet truly it signifies nothing but the
effect, viz. that water that was before fluid is become hard and
consistent, without containing any idea of the action whereby it is
done.
12. Mixed modes made also of other ideas than those of power and
action. I think I shall not need to remark here that, though power and
action make the greatest part of mixed modes, marked by names, and
familiar in the minds and mouths of men, yet other simple ideas, and
their several combinations, are not excluded: much less, I think, will
it be necessary for me to enumerate all the mixed modes which have
been settled, with names to them. That would be to make a dictionary
of the greatest part of the words made use of in divinity, ethics,
law, and politics, and several other sciences. All that is requisite
to my present design, is to show what sort of ideas those are which
I call mixed modes; how the mind comes by them; and that they are
compositions made up of simple ideas got from sensation and
reflection; which I suppose I have done.
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